REVIEW: Anabasis, by Xenophon - By John Psmith

TL;DR

• 1

  Xenophon passes the operator test: Psmith's central reveal is that Xenophon was not just a theorist of leadership but a man who actually had to keep an army alive after its generals were betrayed and executed deep inside Persia.

• 2

  The Greeks are the barbarians of this story: Rather than the polished heirs of classical civilization, the 10,000 come off as laconic, honor-obsessed mercenaries, compared unfavorably and memorably to the more legible, courtly Persians.

• 3

  Leadership starts with a nightmare and a speech: After dreaming his ancestral home struck by Zeus's lightning, Xenophon treats it as a divine mandate, wins the army through layered speeches, and then uses votes to build disciplined, near-despotic control.

• 4

  Democracy gets used to suspend democracy: Xenophon repeatedly asks the troops to vote for stricter obedience and collective punishment, making them complicit in the regime he needs to impose to survive the retreat.

• 5

  The real feat is not the battle but the retreat: After Cyrus dies at Cunaxa, the famous march north means solving rivers, scorched earth, mountain warfare, hostile tribes, mutiny, and Greek colonial intrigue over thousands of miles.

• 6

  Psmith uses Anabasis to make a modern claim about founders: He compares Xenophon's refusal to abandon his men with an older Silicon Valley ethic, then contrasts it with cases like Windsurf where leaders cash out and leave the rest behind.